Elevated-trolley track.



V. WAGNER.

ELEVATED TROLLEY TRACK.

APPLIOATION FILED AUILM, 1912.

Ive-0616601 ef 'bbornegs Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

UNETED STATES PATENT OFFlCF.

VICTOR WAGNER, OF WATERLOO, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO DREW CARRIER COMPANY, OF WATERLOO, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

ELEVATED-TROLLEY TRACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914:.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, VICTOR l/VAGNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterloo, in the county of Jefferson and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevatedlrolley Tracks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, fornnng a part thereof.

This invent-ion relates more particularly to a combination of a flexible wire or cable and an inflexible metal track for elevated carriers which are suspended from trolleys running on single tracks. Its main object is to provide a strong, simple and effective connection between flexible wire or cable and stationary inflexible track sections, and it consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of partsas hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing like characters designate the same parts in the several figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a connection made in accordance with the invention between rigid and flexible track sections; Fig. 2 is a plan view and horizontal section of the same on the line 22, Fig. 1; and Figs. 3 and l are cross sections on the lines 8 3 and 4- l respectively, Fig. 1.

With overhead trolley carriers for farm and other uses, the combination of rigid and flexible track to which the present invention pertains, is desirable. WVire or flexible cable track is desirable particularly for outdoor use because, unlike rigid or inflexible track, it admits of the carrier being propelled by a push to a distant dumping point, and of its returning automatically when unloaded from the dumping point to the starting point; while the rigid track is desirable particularly inside of barns and other buildings, because it admits of the provision and use of gradual, smooth-working curves or turns and of switches and gates whereby tracks may be made to cross one another and doors permitted to close across track lines, etc.

liteferring to the drawing, a designates a substantially rigid or inflexible metal track section. It is made of tubular or hollow form with a longitudinal slot in the under side, and is immovably supported in place by metal b'ackcts or hangers b, which in the present case are of C-form and are bolted or fastened at their upper ends to an overhead timber 0 or other convenient support. On their lower oll'set ends they are formed or provided with upwardly extending bosses or projections (J, fitting within the tubular or hollow track section a, which is thus held in place thereon. These hangers are preferably stayed transversely to the track section by diagonal or oblique braces 6, attached at their upper ends to cross timbers f, or other convenient supports, and at their lower ends to the hangers adjacent to the lower ends thereof.

A wire or flexible cable track section 9 is drawn taut through and in line with an open end of the rigid tubular section a, which is closed or contracted thereon, thence obliquely downward through the slot in the under side of the tubular section, thence through a notch or opening below and adjacent thereto in the first hanger 7), as shown in Fig. 4:, thence laterally and obliquely through a notch or opening in the second hanger I), as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and thence to a beam, post or other convenient support, to which it anchored or fastened in any suitable manner, as shown at h in Fig. 2. The other end of the flexible wire or cable track section g is supported in an elevated position and anchored or fastened at the desired distance from its connection with the rigid tubular section a, so that the trolley of a loaded carrier will, when given a push or forward impulse, bend the wire or cable downward and run of itself to the point where it is automatically dumped in the well known manner, and will then return of itself to the starting point toward which the track inclines downwardly after it has been relieved of the load discharged from the carrier and approximately resumes its original position from which it was deflected downward by the load of the outgoing carrier.

The rigid tubular section a, which is closed or contracted tightly at one end upon the wire or cable g, may be curved in any direction toward the other end and connected in like manner with another flexible wire or cable track section at any angle to that shown, or it may be provided with a switch or switches for diverting the carrier to another track or tracks, or with a removable or hinged gate, to permit the closing of a door or the passage of a trolley on a cross track.

A very slight shoulder or break is made where the flexible wire or cable track section joins the rigid metal section, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that a trolley wheel will run smoothly ov er the connection.

Various modifications in minor details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the principle and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an elevated trolley track the combi nation of a straight hollow metal track section longitudinally slotted on the under side, a hanger supporting said section, and a fleXible cable section drawn taut through and secured in the open end of the hollow metal section, passing thence obliquely downward and to one side out through the slot in the under side of said hollow section and anchored at a distance therefrom.

2. In an elevated trolley track the combination of a straight hollow metal track section longitudinally slotted on the under side, a hanger supporting said section, and a flexible cable section drawn taut through and confined in the open end of said hollow section, thence obliquely downward and to one side through the longitudinal slot in the un der side thereof and through an opening and in alinement with said tubular section,

passing thence obliquely downward and to one side through the slot in the under side of the tubular section into engagement with said hangers, adjacent to and at one side of the tubular section and anchored to a fixed support beyond the hangers.

4. In an elevated trolley track the combination of a straight tubular metal track section having a longitudinal slot in the under side, hangers having bosses insertedand confined in the bore of said section and supporting the section from the under side thereof, and a flexible cable drawn taut through and secured in the end of said tubular section in alinement therewith, thenceobliquely clownward and to one side through the slot in the under side thereof and through openings adjacent thereto in said hangers andanchored to a fixed support beyond the hangers.

In witness whereof I hereto affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

VICTOR W AGNER. lVitnesses L. F. OBRIEN, EDW. A. PETERS.

Gapiee oi this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

